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How to measure yourself (or anyone else) for a skirt draft

This is a throwback to a post I did a while ago on how to draft a skirt pattern. A reader messaged me and asked for a post on how to properly measure oneself, so I said I would do one. And here it is :)

The first thing to do is to tie some tape round your waist and your hips to keep a level. This is easier if you have a full-length mirror, which I currently do not. -_-

To get your front and back waist measurements place the end of the tape where you feel the side-most point of your waist it (this is all a matter of what feels right), wrap the tape around your waist and use your thumb nail to mark the other side-most point. Hold that and the waist measurement point (good thing you have two hands) and make a note of them.

Do the same for your hips. Be a little slack on the front of your hips if you like, especially if like so many of us, you have a bit of a tummy. :)

And do the same for your high hip measurement. This is along your pelvis bone line. On me that's 8cm down from my waist at the CF. I know the measuring tape drooped a bit in the photo.

You will use this measurement to check that the darts aren't too hollow and the side seams aren't too curved when you shape them. I once scooped my back darts too much and now I have a high-waist skirt. :)

Measure from the waistline to the hipline front and back.

This is why a mirror helps: my hip tape dropped a bit at the back in the photo. :)

To make this easier/quicker, I've added an Excel file for you to download. It makes it quicker to get your dart measurements and so on ready for drafting your skirt pattern. Click here to access it via Google Sheets.